{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_53103/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_53103","id":"gutenberg_53103","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53103","summary":null,"tags":["Aesop's fables -- Adaptations","Category: Classics of Literature","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Short Stories","Fables","Fables, Greek -- Adaptations"],"text":"_THE_\n\n                            _BANBURY CROSS_\n\n                               _SERIES_\n\n\n\n                  Prepared for children by Grace Rhys\n\n\n\n\n\n                             \u00c6SOP'S FABLES\n\n\n\n                            [Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                                \u00c6SOP'S\n                                FABLES\n\n\n\n                            [Illustration]\n\n\n                    ILLUSTRATED BY CHARLES ROBINSON\n\n\n                            [Illustration]\n\n\n                                LONDON\n\n                             PUBLISHED BY\n\n                              IMDENT & CO\n\n                                  AT\n\n                             ALDINE HOUSE\n                             OVER AGAINST\n\n                          GREAT EASTERN ST EC\n\n                               MDCCCXCV\n\n                            [Illustration]\n\n\n\n                            [Illustration]\n\n\n                               To Enid.\n\n\n    Enid, this is \u00c6sop's house,\n    And the cover is the door;\n    When the rains of winter pour,\n    Then the Lion and the Mouse,\n    And the Frogs that asked a king,\n    And all the Beasts with curious features,\n    That talk just like us human creatures,\n    Open it, and ask you in!\n\n                                G. R.\n\n\n\n\n\n                     THE DAW IN BORROWED FEATHERS\n\n\n[Illustration: The Daw in Borrowed Feathers]\n\nA conceited jackdaw was vain enough to imagine that he wanted nothing\nbut the coloured plumes to make him as beautiful a bird as the Peacock.\nPuffed up with this wise conceit, he dressed himself with a quantity\nof their finest feathers, and in this borrowed garb, leaving his old\ncompanions, tried to pass for a peacock; but he no sooner attempted\nto stray with these splendid birds, than an affected strut betrayed\nthe sham. The offended peacocks fell upon him with their beaks, and\nsoon stripped him of his finery. Having turned him again into a mere\njackdaw, they drove him back to his brethren.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut they, remembering what airs he had once given himself, would not\npermit him to flock with them again, and treated him with well-deserved\ncontempt.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n                         THE SUN AND THE WIND\n\n\n[Illustration: The Sun and The Wind]\n\n[Illustrations]\n\nA dispute once arose between the Sun and the Wind, which was the\nstronger of the two, and they agreed to count this as proof, that\nwhichever soonest made a traveller take off his cloak, should be held\nthe most powerful. The wind began, and blew with all his might and main\na blast, cold and fierce as a winter storm; but the stronger he blew,\nthe closer the traveller wrapped his cloak about him, and the tighter\nhe grasped it with his hands. Then broke out the sun: with his welcome\nbeams he chased away the vapour and the cold; the traveller felt the\npleasant warmth, and as the sun shone brighter and brighter, he sat\ndown, overcome by the heat, and cast aside the cloak that all the\nblustering rage of the wind could not compel him to lay down. \"Learn\nfrom this,\" said the sun to the wind, \"that soft and gentle means will\noften bring about, what force and fury never can. \"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n                         THE DOG IN THE MANGER\n\n\n[Illustration: The Dog in The Manger]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA dog made his bed in a manger, and lay snarling and growling to keep\nthe horses from their provender. \"See,\" said one of them, \"what a\nmiserable cur! who neither can eat corn himself, nor will allow those\nto eat it who can.\"\n\n\n\n                        MERCURY AND THE WOODMAN\n\n[Illustration: Mercury and the Woodman]\n\nA woodman was felling a tree on the bank of a river; and by chance\nlet his axe slip from his hand, which dropped into the water and\nimmediately sank to the bottom. Being therefore in great distress, he\nsat down by the side of the stream and bewailed his loss. Upon this,\nMercury, whose river it was, had compassion on him, and appearing\nbefore him asked the cause of his sorrow. On hearing it, he dived to\nthe bottom of the river, and coming up again, showed the man a golden\nhatchet, and asked if that were his. He said that it was not. Then\nMercury dived a second time, and brought up a silver one. The woodman\nrefused it, saying again that this was not his. So he dived a third\ntime, and brought up the very axe that had been lost.\n\n\"That is mine!\" said the Woodman, delighted to have his own again.\nMercury was so pleased with his honesty that he made him a present of\nthe other two, as a reward for his just dealing.\n\n[Illustrations]\n\nThe man goes to his companions, and giving them an account of what had\nhappened to him, one of them determined to try whether he might not\nhave the like good fortune. So he went presently to the river's side\nand let his axe fall on purpose into the stream. Then he sat down on\nthe bank and made a great show of weeping. Mercury appeared as before,\nand diving, brought up a golden axe. When he asked if that were the\none that was lost, \"Aye, surely!\" said the man, and snatched at it\ngreedily. But Mercury, to punish his impudence and lying, not only\nrefused to give him that, but would not so much as let him have his own\naxe again.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n                         THE FOX AND THE STORK\n\n\n[Illustration: The Fox and The Stork]\n\n[Illustrations]\n\nA fox one day invited a Stork to dinner, and being disposed to divert\nhimself at the expense of his guest, provided nothing for dinner\nbut some thin soup in a shallow dish. This the Fox lapped up very\nreadily, while the Stork, unable to gain a mouthful with her long\nnarrow bill, was as hungry at the end of dinner as when she began. The\nFox, meanwhile, said he was very sorry to see her eat so sparingly,\nand hoped that the dish was seasoned to her mind. The Stork, seeing\nthat she was played upon, took no notice of it, but pretended to\nenjoy herself extremely; and at parting begged the Fox to return the\nvisit. So he agreed to dine with her the next day. He arrived in good\ntime, and dinner was ordered forthwith; but when it was served up, he\nfound to his dismay, that it was nothing but minced meat in a tall,\nnarrow-necked jar. Down this the Stork easily thrust her long neck and\nbill, while the Fox had to content himself with licking the outside of\nthe jar. \"I am very glad,\" said the Stork, \"that you seem to have so\ngood an appetite; and I hope you will make as hearty a dinner at my\ntable as I did the other day at yours.\" At this the Fox hung down his\nhead and showed his teeth--\"Nay, nay,\" said the Stork, \"don't pretend\nto be out of humour about the matter; they that cannot take a jest\nshould never make one.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n                     THE ANTS AND THE GRASSHOPPER\n\n\n[Illustration: The Ants and the Grasshopper]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOn a cold frosty day in winter, the Ants were dragging out some of\nthe corn which they had laid up in summer-time, so as to air it. The\nGrasshopper, half-starved with hunger, begged the ants to give him a\nmorsel of it to save his life. \"Nay,\" said they, \"but you should have\nworked in the summer, and you would not have wanted in winter.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Well,\" says the Grasshopper, \"but I was not idle either, for I sung\nout the whole season!\" \"Nay, then,\" said the Ants,\" you'll do well to\nmake a merry year of it, and dance in winter to the tune that you sung\nin summer. \"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n                        THE LION AND THE MOUSE\n\n\n[Illustration: The Lion and The Mouse]\n\n\nA lion was sleeping in his lair, when a Mouse, not looking where he\nwas going, ran over the mighty beast's nose and awakened him. The\nLion clapped his paw on the frightened little creature, and was about\nto make an end of him in a moment, when the Mouse, in pitiable tone,\nbegged him to spare one who had done him wrong without being aware. The\nLion looking kindly on his little prisoner's fright, generously let him\ngo. Now it happened, no long time after, that the Lion, while ranging\nthe woods for his prey, fell into the toils of the hunters; and finding\nhimself entangled without hope of escape, set up a roar that filled the\nwhole forest with its echo. The Mouse, quickly recognising the Lion's\nvoice, ran to the spot, and without more ado set to work to nibble the\nknot in the cord that bound him, and in a short time, set him free;\nthus showing him that kindness is seldom thrown away, and that there is\nno creature so much below another but that he may have it in his power\nto return a good deed.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n                       THE CROW AND THE PITCHER\n\n\n[Illustration: The Crow and The Pitcher]\n\nA crow, ready to die with thirst, flew with joy to a Pitcher, which he\nsaw at a distance. But when he came up to it, he found the water so\nlow that with all his stooping and straining he was unable to reach\nit. Thereupon he tried to break the Pitcher; then to overturn it; but\nhis strength was not sufficient to do either. At last, seeing some\nsmall pebbles lie near the place, he cast them one by one into the\nPitcher; and thus, by degrees, raised the water up to the very brim,\nand quenched his thirst.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n                      THE FROGS ASKING FOR A KING\n\n\n[Illustration: The Frogs asking for a King]\n\nLong ago, when the Frogs were all at liberty in the lakes, and had\ngrown quite weary of following every one his own devices, they\nassembled one day together and with a great clamour petitioned Jupiter\nto let them have a king to keep them in better order and make them lead\nhonester lives. Jupiter, knowing their foolishness, smiled at their\nrequest, and threw down a log into the lake, which by the huge splash\nand commotion it made, sent the whole nation of Frogs into the greatest\nterror and amazement. They rushed under the water and into the mud,\nand dared not come within a leap's-length of the spot where it lay. At\nlength one Frog bolder than the rest ventured to pop his head above the\nwater, and take a look at their new king from a respectful distance.\nPresently when they saw the log lie stock-still, others began to swim\nup to it and around it, till by degrees growing bolder and bolder, they\nat last leaped upon it and treated it with the greatest contempt. Full\nof disgust for so tame a ruler, they carried a petition a second time\nto Jupiter for another and more active King. Upon which he sent them\na stork, who had no sooner come among them, than he began laying hold\nof them, and devouring them one by one as fast as he could, and it was\nin vain that they tried to escape him. Then they sent Mercury with a\nprivate message to Jupiter, begging him to take pity on them once more;\nbut Jupiter replied that they were only suffering the punishment due to\ntheir folly, and that another time they would learn to let well alone,\nand not be dissatisfied with their natural state.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n                        THE FOX AND THE GRAPES\n\n\n[Illustration: The Fox and the Grapes]\n\nA fox, very hungry, chanced to come into a vineyard, where there hung\nmany bunches of charming ripe grapes; but nailed up to a trellis so\nhigh, that he leaped till he quite tired himself without being able to\nreach one of them. At last, \"Let who will take them!\" says he; \"they\nare but green and sour; so I'll even let them alone.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n                         THE WOLF AND THE LAMB\n\n\n[Illustration: The Wolf and the Lamb]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs a Wolf was lapping at the head of a running brook, he spied a stray\nLamb paddling, at some distance down the stream. Having made up his\nmind to make his dinner off her, he bethought himself how he might\nbegin the quarrel. \"Wretch,\" said he to her, \"how dare you muddle the\nwater that I am drinking?\" \"Indeed,\" said the Lamb humbly, \"I do not\nsee how I can disturb the water, since it runs from you to me, not\nfrom me to you.\" \"Be that as it may,\" replied the Wolf, \"it was but a\nyear ago that you called me many ill names.\" \"Oh, sir,\" said the Lamb\ntrembling, \"a year ago I was not born.\" \"No matter, it was your father\nthen, or some of your relations,\" and immediately seizing the innocent\nLamb, he tore her to pieces.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n                         THE FOX AND THE CROW\n\n\n[Illustration: The Fox and the Crow]\n\nA crow had snatched a piece of cheese out of a cottage window, and\nflew up with it into a high tree, that she might eat it at her ease. A\nFox having spied her came and sat underneath and began to pay the Crow\ncompliments on her beauty. \"Why,\" said he, \"I never saw it before, but\nyour feathers are of a more delicate white than any that ever I saw in\nmy life! Ah! what a fine shape and graceful neck is there! And I have\nno doubt but you have a tolerable voice. If it is but as fine as your\ncomplexion, I do not know a bird that can match you.\"\n\nThe Crow, tickled with this very civil language, nestled and wriggled\nabout, and hardly knew where she was. But thinking the Fox a little\ndoubtful as to the quality of her voice, and having a mind to set him\nright in the matter, she began to sing, and in the same instant, down\ndropped the cheese; which the Fox presently chopped up, and then bade\nher remember that whatever he had said of her beauty, he had spoken\nnothing yet of her brains.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration: The End of it all.]","title":"\u00c6sop's Fables","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":2260}